This week’s theme
Words with surprising etymological journeys

This week’s words
pummel
balladmonger


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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BAL-uhd-mong-guhr)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A seller or composer of ballads.
2. An inferior poet.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French balade (a dance song), from Old Occitan ballada (a dance song), from Latin ballare (to dance), from Greek ballizein (to dance) + monger, from Old English mangere (merchant), from Latin mango (dealer). Earliest documented use: 1598.

NOTES:

The word is derived from Greek ballizein (to dance). As the word sashayed through a series of languages, it went from dancing to singing. In French, a chanson balade was a dancing song. Over time, the chanson (song) part exited the stage, and ballad, which originally meant dancing, stepped into the song duty. The word ball, a party involving social dancing, is of the same origin. See also, poetaster.

Also note that the Latin mango (dealer), from which we got the word monger, is unrelated to the tropical fruit from India. That mango came to English from Malayalam manna. And that manna is different from the biblical manna, which we got from Hebrew.

USAGE:

“A balladmonger needs a healthy arsenal of rhymes.”
Amanda Dykes; Set the Stars Alight; Bethany House Publishers; 2020.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: